fishplants

This quote probably sums it up perfectly, in the world market NZ is just a 'beggar' when it comes to fishkeeping. Wild caught Discus are relatively readily available in the US and Germany (kind of ironic given the Germans are responsible for development of some of the most famous and well known breeds ('mutants' ), there are even companies specialising in supply of wild Discus only. A friend of mine used to keep Discus years ago in NZ, he said all that was available back then were Browns and some Blues (all wild type). If we weren't so fixated, today, on genetically altered fish and more interested in the wild form - it would be worthwhile for importers to bring these wild type fish into NZ. There is a strong case here for demand driven supply, possibly even, slightly less of a case of supply driven demand. Maybe one day.........

Yeah, they are pretty awesome. I suppose it easier to get a well focussed photo, in a hurry.

For those of you who are interested, here is a link to a German website displaying a large number of photos of wild caught discus. FWIW, my 'Brown' is almost identical to the fish labelled 'Manacapuru Blue', 6 rows down, 2nd from the right. http://www.amazon-exotic-import.de/Gall ... /INDEX.htm There are some stunning looking fish, although some of the photos could be better. cheers

Whatever she is, she is a gorgeous fish. My pick would be an Alenquer, they tend to have the orange-brown base colour, but the dorsal and anal aren't quite right for a true Alenquer. My best pick would be an Alenquer/Turq cross. Definitely not a Tefe Green, the Tefe have red spots, and have a black bar on each of the anal and dorsal fins that starts at the tail and radiates up and down halfway around the dorsal and anal fins (although this can be variable). There has been a lot of cross breeding among the wild fish, and there is a lot of variation such that can be difficult to classify fish into distinct groups. There would be a case for defining this fish as a Blue! I have an 11.5cm Female Brown that is rather plain, (but still gorgeous!) compared to yours Amy.

Hi Alan, I have had a plastic check valve on my CO2 airline tubing for a little over 8 years, no problems with it at all, FWIW. cheers

Love to see a photo! :bounce:

+100!!!

Excessive and unnatural colouring isn't everything in a discus . A 'plain' looking brown can be very visually appealing, and some of the Greens and Blues make some of todays modern breeds look, well, plain! Eye of the beholder I suppose.

Hi, does anyone know if there is anybody supplying wild strain (not necessarily wild caught) Discus in New Zealand? Either imported or bred here. Thanks in advance.

Hi maoripho3nix, I would be surprised if you could get the GE Salt or Fresh tubes in New Zealand. I enquired with GE NZ about the Fresh and Salt Aqua tube (Triphosphor, long life, high (er) lumen rating) and they said they don't bring them into NZ at all. I had to get mine from the UK, place called Lampspecs - for just over half the price each (including freight) I paid for my last Triton tube I purchased from Animates 6 years or so ago. In terms of output they don't touch T5HO though. Am in the process of finishing conversion of my bigger tank from T8 to T5HO. My smaller tank has one F&SA 30W 10000k and one Osram Lumilux 6500k. cheers

Thanks anyway.

Cool photo Chris. Is the adult Discus on the right one of the 4 'Blue Turq' you got from Petworld in November 2005? No offence, but if it is, it doesn't look that well coloured. The reason I ask is that I bought 3 'Blue Turq' from Petworld earlier this year, now they have some size on them I am starting to doubt their parentage. Time will tell I suppose, but they have less colour than other younger Blue Turqs I have, and the largest one is looking very similiar to my Adult Brown. Those two Blue (Turq) discus in the left of the photo look great! cheers

Hilarious post!! Before everybody else mentions it, loaches are great at snail control. My guess is the only way to get rid of them completely is to medicate (never done this) or strip down the tank and clean......everything!! I have those little flat round snails in one of my tanks, unfortunately the three Striata loaches in that tank have gone on strike since I put Discus in the tank (too much easy food) and the population of snails has increased. In one of my other tanks I have a snail with a dark, almost conical shell - and one extremely fat (like Friar Tuck fat) Angelicus loach. I have yet to see one of these snails in the tank, but I know I have them because they are in my canister filter whenever I clean it, and they are breeding in it too. Thinking about putting a couple of Angelicus in the other tank...... Good luck

Have you tired a garden centre? That's where I got mine from. I had to ask for it as they didn't have it on display, they also wanted to know what I wanted it for - can use it to make explosives apparently.

Hey Brennos, FWIW, I had an outbreak of BGA sometime ago. It was a real bad one and covered absolutely everything in the tank, except the fish, although if they had sat still for long enough I'm sure they would have got covered too! I spent a long period of vacuuming the stuff out every day, but it just kept regenerating. I didn't increase fertilisers at all, I went to Animates and bought heaps of cheap plants and planted these, continuing with the extremely frequent vacuuming. The BGA growth slowed down, so I vacuumed less, then one day I vacuumed out the last mat. That was about 8-9 years ago and never seen it since (except for some persisting below gravel level). I don't know what caused it to die off, whether it was the frequency of the vacuuming (ie water changes), or the increased plant mass absorbing available nutrients, or a combination of the two. As for Nitrates, my tanks always have 5-10ppm in them - as it is in our tapwater.

Fisheaven in Auckland have nice fish, and ship nationwide. He sells on TM quite often. I can give you contact details if you wish? Redwood Aquatics also have some good fish in at the moment. cheers

Hey Jarmitage, I started up a new 205 earlier this year, and it certainly made more noise (kind of a ticking noise) than my 10yr old 204. Was a bit disappointed initially but it settled down after a few weeks and is now very quiet (apart from a low hum which I consider normal). The noise may have just been media moving or the impeller 'wearing in'.

Hi pcamore, If I worried every time my Female BN had a mark or discolouration on her, I would be an absolute nervous wreck!! She is always flying into plants etc and picking up bits of everything in her spines, or fins, or scales/armour. Last night she had a mucous like substance down one side which turned out to be a dead piece of plant, but it looked like she was rotting. In certain lights, she appears to have whitish blotches, due to the irridescent nature of the scales. She did receive a heater burn a month or so ago though, which has nearly healed up. Don't stress too much, they are a strongly built fish.

Hi jn, I rung the manufacturer/importer in Auckland a few months ago and they were unable to tell me what the ingredients were. At the time they were applying for the necessary permit to manufacture/import, and seemed unsure if they would continue to stock it. cheers

Agreed. I should have probably mentioned the food dose rate, as when I used the food technique it was for an individual adult discus, and the dose was based on feeding that fish exclusively (by hand) after estimating the weight of the fish in consultation with my vet. I suppose I was a bit frugal with the conditions, notes and disclaimers - I hope that the bit in red is sufficient to ensure readers draw their own conclusions. But thank you Jen, for making it a lot clearer and less ambiguous, and for pointing out the pitfalls of anecdotal, non-diagnostic evidence. cheers

This is the treatment regime I have followed in the past (and at this very moment unfortunately). Please note that this is the regime I have found safe and effective in my tanks, I checked the dose rates and process with my vet. Please do your own research. The level of Metro in the food mix is relatively high. In food: 1 x Trichozole tablet (200mg Metronidazole) from vet 5 x cubes of frozen brine shrimp some flake and colourbits 1/4 tsp of Davis Gelatine Alu foil - Thaw the shrimp in a steel bowl, add small quantity of flake/colourbits (just enough to start to soak up the liquid). - Grind the Trichozole into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle and add to the shrimp and dry food, mix very well. - Float bowl in sink with water of approx 40 degrees, until mix just feels warm. This mix is approximately 10mls in total. - sprinkle Gelatine and mix quickly. - pour/spoon mix into pre-prepared dish (made by folding the alu foil). - refrigerate until solid. - cut up and feed to fish exclusively for 3-4 days - handfeeding the suspects if necessary. In Tank: If the fish are not eating. (I am currently using this process for a fish that has white, stringy faeces) - large w/c of 50% or more first - add Epsom salts at the rate of 1 x 20ml tbsp per 10l, half on day 1 and half on day 3 - using liquid suspension (500mg Metronidazole) pour into tank (75l actual volume) on Days 1, 3 and 5. No w/c, no carbon. - large w/c day 6 or 7 - if the fish recovers it will start eating in a week or so, sometimes sooner.

You could certainly have 3 or so baby/juvenile discus in that tank at the moment. But as they grow you would need to reduce the non-discus load if you wanted to keep the discus in that tank. Your lone discus would be much happier/healthier with mates, especially as he is very, very small. Although you would need to get mates that aren't too big.

As much as he (and the other inhabitants) will eat in a few minutes. Maybe start off with 1/4 a cube, see how that goes. Really depends on how much your other fish will eat as well. Unless he is extremely small, 4-5 individual bloodworms isn't many! Frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp are good, but they do lack all the nutrients that discus require, and a nutrient deficient diet may lead to Hole In The Head (HITH). Colourbits/Flake etc are more nutritionally balanced. I have seen vitamin enriched bloodworms at Redwood Aquatics, but haven't examined the makeup of these. Depending on your total fish load (of non discus fish), 140l would be adequate for 2-3 adult discus.

Some people just use 18000k tubes over their planted tanks, I use various tubes from 6500k - 18000k on my tanks, so 14000k should be alright for plants. I think you will find most people with planted tanks, that use fluorescent tubes, use ones above 6500k. As P44 said, 14000k is an unusual colour (ie not readily available) but it does fall within the range of commonly used tubes. They won't warm lizards any more or less than other tubes, notwithstanding the latent heat produced as a normal part of operation. Hope that helps.

Awesome fish, setup, and photos! What size is the Cobalt Blue? Cheers